Method and system of dynamically configuring functions of machine

ABSTRACT

In a method of dynamically configuring functions of a machine, an agent is provided to a first machine, thereby receiving a projectable space instance. The projectable space instance is configured in a second machine for creating a workspace and transmitted to the first machine based on a predefined protocol. The projectable space instance is parsed with the agent to automatically build a working environment for operating therein a projected workspace corresponding to the workspace created by way of the projectable space instance.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a configuring method, and particularlyto a method of dynamically configuring functions of a machine by way ofa workspace. The present invention also relates to a system ofdynamically configuring functions of a machine.

BACKGROUND

As information and communications technology improves every day,building an informationized, digitized, human-centered and facilitativesmart life has become a trend in the future. Meanwhile, home appliancesthat are parts of our daily lives would become keys to digital homes andsmart lives for sure. Hence, the development of intelligentized homeappliances would be one of the mainstreams in industry.

Generally speaking, the functions of a commercially available electronicproduct have been defined before leaving factory. Ordinary consumerscannot modify the electronic product to have more or desired functions,and cannot change the settings of the electronic product, either.However, it sometimes needs a little modification to meet the user'srequirement. For instance, a commercially available home televisiongenerally receives cable signals, internet signals or audio/videosignals and displays frames on the television screen in response to thereceived signals. If a user would like to have warning or remindinginformation, e.g. low battery status of another electronic product or apersonal schedule such as meeting time, displayed on the televisionscreen, the user needs to buy associated auxiliary products to implementthe requirements, or buy another television which meets the requirementsto replace for the existing one. It would not be an ideal type of smartlife.

SUMMARY

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide method andsystem of dynamically configuring functions of a machine, whereby a usercan make adaptive settings for the machine in conformity to people'shabits and requirement.

In an aspect, the present invention provides a method of dynamicallyconfiguring functions of a machine, which comprises: providing an agentto a first machine, thereby receiving a projectable space instance,which is configured in a second machine for creating a workspace andtransmitted to the first machine based on a predefined protocol; andparsing the projectable space instance with the agent to automaticallybuild a working environment for operating therein a projected workspacecorresponding to the workspace created by way of the projectable spaceinstance.

In another aspect, the present invention provides a system ofdynamically configuring functions of a machine, which comprises: a firstmachine comprising an instance processing unit; and a second machineconfigured therein a projectable space instance for creating aworkspace; wherein the instance processing unit receives the projectablespace instance from the second machine based on a predefined protocoland parses the projectable space instance to automatically build aworking environment for operating therein a projected workspacecorresponding to the workspace created by way of the projectable spaceinstance.

In another aspect, the present invention provides a machine, whichcomprises: an instance processing unit for receiving a projectable spaceinstance transmitted to the machine based on a predefined protocol;wherein an another machine configured therein the projectable spaceinstance for creating a workspace before the projectable space instanceis transmitted to the machine; and wherein the instance processing unitreceives the projectable space instance and parses the projectable spaceinstance to automatically build a working environment for operatingtherein a projected workspace corresponding to the workspace created byway of the projectable space instance.

In an embodiment, the projectable space instance is transmitted to thefirst machine via a uniform resource identifier (URI) complying with thepredefined protocol.

In an embodiment, the URI is a HTTP (hypertext transfer protocol) URI, aFTP (file transfer protocol) URI, a local file URI, or a combinationthereof.

In an embodiment, the instance processing unit is an agent.

In an embodiment, the agent is a projector, which parses the projectablespace instance and builds the working environment.

In an embodiment, the agent loads a projector into the first machine forparsing the projectable space instance and building the workingenvironment.

In an embodiment, the projectable space instance is an object, an XML(extensible markup language) document, or an instance which isinstantiated with a structured language or a structured protocol.

In an embodiment, the first machine is a home appliance, a medicalfacility or a network appliance.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above objects and advantages of the present invention will becomemore readily apparent to those ordinarily skilled in the art afterreviewing the following detailed description and accompanying drawings,in which:

FIG. 1 is a scheme showing a unifying method, which is applicable to thepresent invention;

FIG. 2 is a scheme illustrating implementation of a personal workspacewith a unified script used as an intermediate language;

FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram exemplifying allocation of unifiedmatters in a personal workspace, which is applicable to the presentinvention;

FIGS. 4, 5A and 5B are schematic diagrams exemplifying creation of aprojected workspace, which is applicable to the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram exemplifying the relationship between aprojectable space instance and a projected workspace applicable to thepresent invention;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a method of dynamically configuringfunctions of a machine according to the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a schematic block diagram exemplifying an initial state of aconfiguring system to which a configuring method according to anembodiment of the present invention is applied;

FIGS. 9A˜9C are schemes exemplifying sequential operations of theconfiguring system of FIG. 8;

FIG. 10 is a schematic block diagram exemplifying an initial state of aconfiguring system to which a configuring method according to anotherembodiment of the present invention is applied; and

FIGS. 11A˜11C are schemes exemplifying sequential operations of theconfiguring system of FIG. 10.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present invention can be readily appreciated by referring to thefollowing descriptions, including the following glossary of terms andthe concluding examples. It is to be noted that some patent publicationnumbers or patent application numbers are cited throughout thespecification, and the entire disclosures thereof are to be incorporatedherein for reference.

In the embodiments described below, the present invention is describedby way of examples and characteristic illustrations, but is not to belimited to the examples and characteristic illustrations. The term“information source” used herein indicates a symbolic sequence of usefulinformation that can be specifically interpreted as, but not limited to,a message for organizing and labeling data. The information sourceincludes a website (such as internet service), intranet, software,electronic book, database and other media of information (such asstorage media of non-transitory computer or storage media of mobiledevice). The term “original information” used herein indicates, but isnot limited to, a file, web page, database row, policy, rule or anyinformation accessible from corresponding machine or server. The term“tool” used herein indicates, but is not limited to, a utility, widget,agent, application, service or any executable element accessible fromcorresponding machine or server.

Furthermore, the “original information” and the “original tool” areembodiments of the “original matter” in the present invention. By way ofa unifying method, multiple “original matters” from the same ordifferent “information sources” are modelled into multiple “unifiedmatters”. The resulting “unified matters” existing in the same workingenvironment are then compatible with one another and capable ofconducting cooperative task. Moreover, the “unified tool” and the“unified information unit” are embodiments of the “unified matter” inthe present invention. The term “matterizer” used herein indicates acomponent, device or program code for unifying the “original matter”.

In a preferred embodiment, the unifying method mentioned above includessteps of reorganizing at least one original information obtained from atleast one of the multiple information sources based on a unified datastructure, thereby modeling the original information into a unifiedinformation unit; and/or reorganizing at least one original toolobtained from at least one of the multiple information sources based onanother unified data structure, thereby modeling the original tool intoa unified tool. The unified data structure and the another unified datastructure may be the same or different. The unifying method can beimplemented with a matterizer.

Please refer to FIG. 1, which is a scheme showing a unifying method,which is applicable to the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, amatterizer 992 reorganizes an attribute and an associated link of anoriginal matter 991 based on a unified data model 993, thereby modelingthe original matter 991 into a unified matter 994. The resulting basicattribute of the unified matter 994 then includes a type and a link ofthe original matter 991.

In this embodiment, the original matter 991 could be, but is not limitedto an original information and/or an original tool. In the abovementioned unifying method, if the attribute accessible from the originalinformation complies with the attribute requirement of the unifiedinformation unit, the unified information unit can be directly generatedthrough the matterizer 992. On the other hand, if the attributeaccessible from the original information does not comply with theattribute requirement of the unified information unit, a process oflogically reorganizing the attribute and the associated link of theoriginal information to redefine the original information is needed, inorder to transform the original information into a new originalinformation with an attribute consistent to the attribute requirement ofthe unified information unit. Under this circumstance, the unifiedinformation unit is indirectly generated.

Furthermore, the unified tool is directly generated through thematterizer 992 when the original tool is compatible with the workingenvironment of the workspace; and an adapter and/or a softwaredevelopment kit (SDK) for driving the original tool would be required asa medium for generating the unified tool, i.e. indirectly, when theoriginal tool is incompatible with the working environment of theworkspace. In other words, the adapter is used to provide an interfaceimplementation to fit the working environment.

The details of the embodiments of unifying method, the acquisition ofthe unified matters and the operation of the matterizer according to thepresent invention can be understood with reference to, but not limitedto, the U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/324,069, entitled “A methodof unifying information and tool from a plurality of informationsources” as well as the China Patent Application No. 201410768564.X,which claims the benefit of priority to the U.S. patent application Ser.No. 14/324,069 and is entitled “A method of unifying information andtool from a plurality of information sources and computer product anddevice using the method”, which are assigned to the same assignee. Theentire disclosures of the co-pending patent applications areincorporated herein for reference, and would not be redundantlydescribed. Furthermore, those skilled in the art may make equivalentmodifications according to practical requirements.

Hereinafter, two more examples of unifying methods applicable to thepresent invention are given as follows. The first one is an informationunifying method applied to Garmin satellite navigation. Similar toabove-mentioned unifying method, a unified point information (regardedas the unified information unit of the present invention) correspondingto an original point information (regarded as the original informationof the present invention) is obtained after a unifying process isperformed on the original point information by executing the Point ofInterest (POI) function of Garmin satellite navigation. The second oneis a tool unifying method applied to an Android system. An Androidsystem is an open source mobile operating system based on Linux. Ingeneral, application programs (regarded as the original tool of thepresent invention) of Android systems are written in Java. Therefore,application programs (regarded as the original tool of the presentinvention) written in Java can be modeled into unified applications(regarded as the unified tool of the present invention) compatible withthe Android system. The resulting unified application programscorresponding to the application programs written in Java are thenexecutable in the Android system.

The workspace described herein is a space where at least one matterizer,at least one information and/or at least one tool can interact with oneanother and/or execute specified tasks. The at least one informationand/or at least one tool can be, but is not limited to be, imported intothe workspace through the at least one matterizer. Information importers9881, 9882 and 9883 to be described later with reference to FIG. 5 areexemplified embodiments of the matterizer. The unified script describedherein is an intermediate language for implementing the workspace, andthe at least one matterizer, the at least one information and/or the atleast one tool are provided, for example built-in or plugged-in, to theworkspace by way of the unified script.

In an embodiment, the above-mentioned at least one information is aunified information unit which is generated after at least one originalinformation obtained from at least one information source is unified.The above-mentioned at least one tool is a unified tool which isgenerated after at least one original tool obtained from at least oneinformation source is unified. Any user could add, build or plug anyunified information unit he needs and/or unified tool he needs fromcorresponding information sources into a personal workspace according topractical needs. In other words, the workspace can be a user-orientedpersonal workspace.

Please refer to FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 FIG. 2 schematically illustrates animplementation concept of using the unified script as an intermediatelanguage for implementing the workspace, and FIG. 3 schematicallyillustrates an exemplified configuration of a personal workspace. Asshown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, a unified information unit 985′corresponding to an original information 985 in the Dropbox 982, a firstunified tool 986′ corresponding to a compatible original tool 986 in thecloud storage 983 and a second unified tool 987′ corresponding to anincompatible original tool 987 in a server 984 are selectively combinedinto a personal workspace 981 by a user. This can be accomplished bycompiling a unified script 980 and configuring an information importer9881 of Dropbox 982, an information importer 9882 of the cloud storage983 and an information importer 9883 of the server 984 according to theunified script 980. Accordingly, the original information 985 in theDropbox 982 can be unified into the unified information unit 985′ andthen imported into the personal workspace 981. For example withoutlimitation, the unified script 980 is defined as an intermediatelanguage for implementing the workspace, and the information importer9882 is a matterizer of Dropbox.

As shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, the original tool saved in the cloudstorage 983 is a compatible original tool 986 which is compatible withthe component architecture of the unified tool of the personal workspace981. The first unified tool 986′ corresponding to the compatibleoriginal tool 986 is directly provided to the personal workspace 981through the information importer 9882 of the unified script 980.

On the other hand, the original tool saved in the server 984 is theincompatible original tool 987 which is incompatible with the componentarchitecture of the unified tool of the personal workspace 981. Then thesecond unified tool 987′ corresponding to the incompatible original tool987 is indirectly provided to the personal workspace 981 through acompatible adaptor 989 and the information importer 9883 of the unifiedscript 980.

FIG. 3 further shows that the unified information unit 985′, the firstunified tool 986′ and the second unified tool 987′ are flexiblyconfigured and arranged, e.g. grouped or placed, by the user in aspecified region of the personal workspace 981 according to practicalneeds. Afterwards, the user may use the unified tool to do what he wantsto do, for example, to access and control the corresponding unifiedinformation unit by way of operations between the unified tool and theunified information unit, such as clicking or dragging.

The specific descriptions of using the unified script as theintermediate language for implementing the workspace and selectivelycombining unified information unit and unified tool from correspondinginformation sources into the personal workspace to perform tasksaccording to practical needs, as mentioned in the embodiments, can alsobe referred to a co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/325,466,entitled “A method of combining unified matters in personal workspace”,as well as the China Patent Application No. 201410796528.4, which claimsthe benefit of priority to the U.S. patent application Ser. Nos.14/324,069 and 14/325,466 and is entitled “A method of combining unifiedmatters in a personal workspace and computer product and device usingthe method”, which are assigned to the same assignee, and will not beredundantly described herein.

The personal workspace mentioned above is just an embodiment of theworkspace, and the workspace adapted to be used in the present inventionis not limited thereto. For instance, a unified script which is regardedas the intermediate language for implementing the workspace can beedited in advance so as to render a workspace built in a matterizer,information and/or tool. Furthermore, the workspace is not limited to aprivate workspace, but can be provided for cooperative work amongmultiple users at the same or different time according to practicalneeds. Furthermore, the workspace can be projected to any electronicdevice with computing capability by way of a workspace-projecting methodso that a user may use the projected workspace on that electronicdevice.

In an embodiment, the workspace-projecting method includes acquiring aprojectable space instance which is instantiated from a unified scriptthrough a URI (uniform resource identifier). The unified script isdefined to configure a matterizer, information and/or tool to model aworkspace, as described above, and the projectable space instance isused for building a projected workspace corresponding to the workspaceto provide an interface for operating the matterizer, information and/ortool. The workspace-projecting method further includes using a projectorto parse the projectable space instance and build a working environmentto configure the matterizer, information and/or tool, in order toexecute the projected workspace. Then the user may interact with theprojected workspace.

In the workspace-projecting method, the projector can be acquired from aremote data station, a projectable space instance or a preloadedapplication program, and loaded to an engine where a compatible workingenvironment is provided for executing the projector. The engineincludes, but is not limited to, a JavaScript engine, a Windowsapplication, and/or a Linux application program. Furthermore, theunified script can be declared by a DTD (Document Type Definition), anXML Schema, a structured language or a structured protocol, but is notlimited thereto. The projectable space instance can be, but is notlimited to, an object, an XML document, or an instance which isinstantiated with the structured language or the structured protocol.

Furthermore, the workspace-projecting method will be illustrated in moredetail by way of some embodiments. Please refer to FIG. 4, FIG. 5A, FIG.5B and FIG. 6. FIG. 4 schematically illustrates an initial state beforethe workspace-projecting method is performed. FIG. 5A and FIG. 5Bschematically illustrates the progresses of the workspace-projectingmethod. FIG. 6 schematically shows the relationship between aprojectable space instance as shown in FIG. 4 and a projected workspaceas shown in FIG. 5B. As shown in FIG. 6, a first electronic device 971and a second electronic device 972 can be interconnected to each other,for example, through the internet. Furthermore, the projectable spaceinstance 973 is saved in the first electronic device 971, and a built-inprojector 974 is saved in the second electronic device 972.

In this embodiment, a unified script 980 is declared by the DTD(Document Type Definition) for configuring at least one informationimporter, at least one unified information and/or at least one unifiedtool to model a workspace. The information importer is an embodiment ofthe matterizer. Moreover, the projectable space instance 973 is anobject which is instantiated with XML. As shown in FIG. 6, theprojectable space instance 973 is used for building the projectedworkspace 976 corresponding to the workspace. Besides, the informationimporter, the unified information and/or the unified tool is allowed tobe added in or removed from the projectable space instance 973. Theabove-mentioned descriptions will be illustrated in more details asfollows.

Furthermore, the projector 974 of the second electronic device 972 willestablish a working environment 975 on the second electronic device 972for executing the projected workspace 976, and the projector 974provides a microkernel 977 (see FIG. 6) to the working environment 975for equipping at least one information importer, at least one unifiedinformation and/or at least one unified tool which is/are going to beadded to the projected workspace 976. When the second electronic device972 acquires the projectable space instance 973 saved in the firstelectronic device 971 through a URI, the projector 974 of the secondelectronic device 972 starts to parse the projectable space instance973, as shown in FIG. 8A. After the projectable space instance 973 isparsed by the projector 974, the projected workspace 976 is created inthe working environment 975 according to parsed contents of theprojectable space instance 973, as shown in FIG. 8B. Accordingly, a userof the second electronic device 972 can interact with the projectedworkspace 976 through the second electronic device 972 to performrelated tasks.

The relationships between above mentioned unified script 980, theprojectable space instance 973 and the projected workspace 976 will beillustrated in more detailed by way of a practical condition as shown inFIG. 7. As shown in FIG. 7, a workspace which can be projected and iscapable of accessing jpg format image files and gif format image filessaved in a specified internet space is created for making the imagefiles visible to a user. In this example, the unified script 980 isdeclared by the Document Type Definition (DTD), and the projectablespace instance 973 is instantiated with XML.

Moreover, the information importer and the unified tool will be addedinto the projectable space instance 973, and the information importer isused to import at least one unified information unit corresponding tooriginal information into the projected workspace 976. In this example,the information importer is a Dropbox importer (the information of theDropbox importer is exemplified in the dashed line frame 9761 of FIG.6). The original information are jpg format image file 9791, jpg formatimage file 9792 and gif format image file 9793 stored in Dropbox 979,and the unified information units are unified jpg format image file9791′, unified jpg format image file 9792′ and unified gif format imagefile 9793′. The unified tool is an image viewer (the information of theunified tool is exemplified in the dashed line frame 9762 of FIG. 6)used for accessing image files which are imported into the projectedworkspace 976.

As mentioned previously, the projected workspace 976 is created afterthe projectable space instance 973 is parsed by the projector 974 of thesecond electronic device 972. In this example, the Dropbox importer9761′ (corresponding to the dashed line frame 9761) and the image viewer9762′ (corresponding to the dashed line frame 9762) are configured inthe projected workspace 976. The Dropbox importer 9761′ unifies andimports the jpg format image file 9791, the jpg format image file 9792and the gif format image file 9793 from Dropbox 979 into the projectedworkspace 976. Then the unified jpg format image file 9791′, the unifiedjpg format image file 9792′ and the unified gif format image file 9793′corresponding to the jpg format image file 9791, the jpg format imagefile 9792 and the gif format image file 9793, respectively, are presentin the projected workspace 976. When the user of the second electronicdevice 972 manipulates any of the unified image files 9791′, 9792′ and9793′ by way of any suitable means, e.g. clicking on the iconrepresenting one of the unified images files 9791′, 9792′ and 9793′, ordragging and dropping the icon representing one of the image files9791′, 9792′ and 9793′ to the image viewer 9762′, the image viewer 9762′will access contents of the corresponding unified image file 9791′,9792′ or 9793′ to present the unified image file 9791′, 9792′ or 9793′in front of the user. The information importer 9761′ and the imageviewer 9762′ mentioned above may be equipped by the microkernel 977.

It is to be noted that the URI of the projectable space instance 973 maybe a HTTP (hypertext transfer protocol) URI or a FTP (file transferprotocol) URI. When the first electronic device 971 and the secondelectronic device 972 are integrated into one device, the URI of theprojectable space instance 973 can also be a local file URI. The URI ofthe projectable space instance 973 is not limited to the above-mentionedtypes. The projectable space instance 973 can be accessed by not only anoriginal editor, but also an authorized user or an authorized electronicdevice. For instance, the authorized user may, but is not limited to,acquire the projectable space instance 973 through the URI by using anauthorized user account and password.

A related art disclosed in patent application Ser. No. 14/577,772,entitled “Method of projecting a workspace and system using the same”and assigned to the same assignee, as well as the China PatentApplication No. 2014108141 38.5, which claims the benefit of priority tothe U.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 14/324,069, 14/325,466 and14/577,772 and is entitled “Method of projecting a workspace and systemusing the same”, are applicable to embodiments of the present invention.The disclosure of the co-pending patent applications are incorporatedherein for reference.

It is to be noted that the workspace-projecting method described aboveis only one of the examples for projecting a workspace to any electronicdevice with computing capability. Those who are skilled in the art maymake variations and modifications to the workspace-projecting methoddescribed above depending on practical requirements.

With the utilization of the above-mentioned or other related art, amethod of configuring functions of a machine is developed according tothe present invention. Hereinafter, the configuring method according tothe present invention will be described in more detail by way ofembodiments with reference to accompanying drawings.

Please refer to FIG. 7, which is a flowchart illustrating a method ofconfiguring functions of a machine according to the present invention.The configuring method includes: Step P1: dynamically configuringfunctions of a machine, which comprises: providing an agent to a firstmachine, thereby receiving a projectable space instance, which isconfigured in a second machine for creating a workspace and transmittedto the first machine based on a predefined protocol; and Step P2:parsing the projectable space instance with the agent to automaticallybuild a working environment for operating therein a projected workspacecorresponding to the workspace created by way of the projectable spaceinstance.

The projectable space instance is configured according to the functionsand/or operations of the firs machine expected by the user. The methodaccording to the present invention will be described in mor detail byway of the following examples.

Please refer to FIG. 8, FIG. 9A, FIG. 9B and FIG. 9C, wherein FIG. 8 isa schematic block diagram exemplifying an initial state of a configuringsystem to which a configuring method according to an embodiment of thepresent invention is applied, and FIGS. 9A-9C are schemes exemplifyingsequential operations of the configuring system of FIG. 8. As shown inFIG. 8, the configuring system includes a first machine 1, a secondmachine 2, a third machine 3 and a fourth machine 4, which areinterconnected, for example, via the internet.

For example, the functions of the first machine 1 is to be configured bya user 5. The first machine 1 includes an agent 11. The second machine 2is the one that the user 5 manipulates, e.g. a computer. The secondmachine 2 includes a space manager 21. The third machine 3 is a machinewhere a projectable space instance 31A is saved, e.g. a network attachedstorage (NAS), and the fourth machine 4 is a machine where a projector41 is saved.

For setting the functions and/or operational processes of the firstmachine 1, the user 5 configures the projectable space instance 31A inthe third machine 3 by way of the space manager 21 in the second machine2 according to practical requirements. After configuration of theprojectable space instance 31A, a URI (uniform resource identifier)corresponding to the projectable space instance 31A is sent to the firstmachine 1, as shown in FIG. 9A. Afterwards, the agent 11 in the firstmachine 1 receives and automatically opens the URI sent by the user 5from the second machine 2, so as to obtain the projectable spaceinstance 31A from the third machine 3, as described in Step P1 and shownin FIG. 9B.

The agent 11 of the first machine 1 also loads the projector 41 of thefourth machine 4 into the first machine 1. The projector 41 parses theprojectable space instance 31A obtained by the first machine 1 andbuilds a working environment in the first machine 1. After theprojectable space instance 31A is parsed by the projector 41, aprojected 31B is built in the working environment according to contentsof the projectable space instance 31A, as described in Step P2 and shownin FIG. 9C. Accordingly, the first machine 1 can configure functionsand/or operational processes that the user 5 requires by way of theprojected workspace 31B.

The agent 11 in the first machine 1 can be set to automatically open aURI transmitted to the first machine 1 based on a predefined protocolonly. For example, the URI transmitted to the first machine 1 based onthe predefined protocol can be, but is not limited to, a HTTP (hypertexttransfer protocol) URI, a FTP (file transfer protocol) URI or a localfile URI.

The above-mentioned descriptions are presented herein for illustrationonly. It is noted that a variety of modifications and alterations may bemade according to the practical requirements. For instance, at least twoof the second machine 2, the third machine 3 and the fourth machine 4may be integrated as a unitary device. That is, at least two of thespace manager 21, the projectable space instance 31A and the projector41 are saved in the same device.

Please refer to FIG. 10, FIG. 11A, FIG. 11B and FIG. 11C, wherein FIG.10 is a schematic block diagram exemplifying an initial state of aconfiguring system to which a configuring method according to anotherembodiment of the present invention is applied; and FIGS. 11A-11C areschemes exemplifying sequential operations of the configuring system ofFIG. 10. This embodiment is similar to the embodiment of configuringsystem as described above with reference to FIGS. 8 and 9A-9C exceptthat the first machine 1 includes an agent 11′, which is a projector.Under this circumstance, the configuring system does not need a machinefor saving the projector.

Similar to the above embodiment, for setting functions and/oroperational processes of the first machine 1, the user 5 configures theprojectable space instance 31A in the third machine 3 by way of thespace manager 21 of the second machine 2 according to practicalrequirements. After configuration of the projectable space instance 31A,the URI corresponding to the projectable space instance 31A is sent tothe first machine 1, as shown in FIG. 11A. Afterwards, the agent 11′ inthe first machine 1 receives and automatically opens the URI sent by theuser 5 from the second machine 2, so as to obtain the projectable spaceinstance 31A from the third machine 3, as described in Step P1 anddescribed in FIG. 11B.

Since the agent 11′ itself is a projector, i.e. the projector 41, theagent 11′ can parse the projectable space instance 31A obtained by thefirst machine 1 and build the working environment in the first machine1. After the projectable space instance 31A is parsed by the agent 11′,the projected workspace 31B is built in the working environmentaccording to contents of the projectable space instance 31A, asdescribed in Step P2 and shown in FIG. 11C. Accordingly, the firstmachine 1 can configure functions and/or operational processes that theuser 5 requires by way of the projected workspace 31B.

From the above descriptions, the method of dynamically configuringfunctions of a machine according to the present invention enables themachine to include dynamic functions. A user can configure and setfunctions of the machine as desired. The present invention can not onlymake the use of the machine conform to habits and requirements of theuser, but also be applicable to a variety of fields, e.g. homeappliances, medical facilities and network appliances. As a result, theconfiguring method and system according to the present invention exhibitgreat values in industry.

While the invention has been described in terms of what is presentlyconsidered to be the most practical and preferred embodiments, it is tobe understood that the invention needs not be limited to the disclosedembodiments. On the contrary, it is intended to cover variousmodifications and similar arrangements included within the spirit andscope of the appended claims which are to be accorded with the broadestinterpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similarstructures.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of dynamically configuring functions ofa machine, comprising: providing an agent to a first machine, therebyreceiving a projectable space instance, which is configured in a secondmachine for creating a workspace and transmitted to the first machinebased on a predefined protocol; and parsing the projectable spaceinstance with the agent to automatically build a working environment foroperating therein a projected workspace corresponding to the workspacecreated by way of the projectable space instance.
 2. The methodaccording to claim 1, wherein the projectable space instance istransmitted to the first machine via a uniform resource identifier (URI)complying with the predefined protocol.
 3. The method according to claim2, wherein the URI is a HTTP (hypertext transfer protocol) URI, a FTP(file transfer protocol) URI, a local file URI, or a combinationthereof.
 4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the agent is aprojector, which parses the projectable space instance and builds theworking environment.
 5. The method according to claim 1, wherein theagent loads a projector into the first machine for parsing theprojectable space instance and building the working environment.
 6. Themethod according to claim 1, wherein the projectable space instance isan object, an XML (extensible markup language) document, or an instancewhich is instantiated with a structured language or a structuredprotocol.
 7. A system of dynamically configuring functions of a machine,comprising: a first machine comprising an instance processing unit; anda second machine configured therein a projectable space instance forcreating a workspace; wherein the instance processing unit receives theprojectable space instance from the second machine based on a predefinedprotocol and parses the projectable space instance to automaticallybuild a working environment for operating therein a projected workspacecorresponding to the workspace created by way of the projectable spaceinstance.
 8. The system according to claim 7, wherein the projectablespace instance is transmitted to the first machine via a uniformresource identifier (URI) complying with the predefined protocol.
 9. Thesystem according to claim 8, wherein the URI is a HTTP (hypertexttransfer protocol) URI, a FTP (file transfer protocol) URI, a local fileURI, or a combination thereof.
 10. The system according to claim 7,wherein the instance processing unit is an agent.
 11. The systemaccording to claim 10, wherein the agent is a projector, which parsesthe projectable space instance and builds the working environment. 12.The system according to claim 10, wherein the agent loads a projectorinto the first machine for parsing the projectable space instance andbuilding the working environment.
 13. The system according to claim 7,wherein the projectable space instance is an object, an XML (extensiblemarkup language) document, or an instance which is instantiated with astructured language or a structured protocol.
 14. The system accordingto claim 7, wherein the first machine is a home appliance, a medicalfacility or a network appliance.
 15. A machine, comprising: an instanceprocessing unit for receiving a projectable space instance transmittedto the machine based on a predefined protocol; wherein an anothermachine configured therein the projectable space instance for creating aworkspace before the projectable space instance is transmitted to themachine; and wherein the instance processing unit receives theprojectable space instance and parses the projectable space instance toautomatically build a working environment for operating therein aprojected workspace corresponding to the workspace created by way of theprojectable space instance.
 16. The machine according to claim 15,wherein the projectable space instance is transmitted to the firstmachine via a uniform resource identifier (URI) complying with thepredefined protocol.
 17. The machine according to claim 16, wherein theURI is a HTTP (hypertext transfer protocol) URI, a FTP (file transferprotocol) URI, a local file URI, or a combination thereof.
 18. Themachine according to claim 15, wherein the instance processing unit isan agent.
 19. The machine according to claim 18, wherein the agent is aprojector, which parses the projectable space instance and builds theworking environment.
 20. The machine according to claim 15, wherein theprojectable space instance is an object, an XML (extensible markuplanguage) document, or an instance which is instantiated with astructured language or a structured protocol.